LoL, published by Riot Games, is a five-a-side online warfare-style game. It estimates its player-base to be more than 100 million users.

Legacy lost to its rivals the Chiefs in the 2015 and 2016 OPL grand finals. The winner of this year’s second and final OPL “split”, which starts on 10 June, will compete for a spot at the LoL world championship – the biggest eSports event in the world. In 2016 it had a prize pool of US$6.7m (A$9m) and attracted more viewers, live and online, than the 2016 NBA finals.

The Crows chief executive, Andrew Fagan, said buying the LoL team would open up a new commercial platform for the AFL club. According to a Crows press release, the world of competitive gaming has an international audience of close to 250 million people, the majority of whom are aged between 14 and 34 years.

The 2016 League of Legends Oceanic Pro League grand final, at the Courier-Mail Piazza in Brisbane, Queensland. Photograph: Riot Games

“[eSports] is hugely popular with millennials and there are enhanced opportunities for current and new corporate partners to engage with younger, digital and social media-savvy audiences,” Fagan said in a statement. “League of Legends eSports was the most obvious choice for our club to get involved in, as it is one of the most developed eSports leagues in the region.”

While the purchase of an eSports team is a first for a traditional sports club in the region, it follows the recent investment by global leagues, teams and individuals in eSports – including the NBA, former NBA players Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal, former NFL player Joe Montana, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Miami Heat. In Europe, football clubs such as Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Ajax have also created eSports divisions in recent years.

The Legacy eSports team captain, Tim “Carbon” Wendel, said the team were “ecstatic” about the deal with Adelaide.

“This is a landmark day for eSports,” he said. “I have always been a Crows fan, so it is an honour to be part of such a prestigious club and to develop Legacy eSports into a sport powerhouse, just like the Adelaide Crows.”

Earlier this month, Intel Extreme Masters was held at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena and became the biggest eSports event held in Australia as 7,000 fans watched Brazilian team SK Gaming win the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive IEM Sydney title, with millions more watching online.